Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/66

affirms and the other denies the deification of man, but that Pantheism asserts that man is God in virtue of his own nature; while Christianity teaches that man may become as God, supernaturally, through grace. Pantheism teaches that man, a part of the being which is God, is completely absorbed by the being of which he forms a part; while Catholicism teaches that man, even after being deified, that is to say, penetrated with the divine essence, yet preserves inviolate the individuality of his own existence. The respect which God has for human individuality, or what is the same thing, for the free will of man, which is what constitutes his absolute and inviolable individuality, is so great, according to Catholic dogma, that God has been willing to divide with it the direction of all human associations, which are governed both by the freedom of man and by the divine counsel. Love is in its nature fruitful, and because it is fruitful, it engenders diversity without impairing its own unity; and because it is love, it resolves all things into one, without blending them. Love is, then, infinite variety and infinite unity. It is the sole law, the highest rule, the only way, the last end. Catholicism is love, because God is love. Only he who loves is Catholic, and only the Catholic learns the true nature of love, because he alone receives what he knows through supernatural and divine means.